Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The New Deal

This past week has been full, to say the very least. But, I am now starting to settle into the new schedule and it is going really well. Last week, I decided to take only two classes and allow myself the time and mindspace to get fully involved in them. Today is the first time I'm really feeling the effects of this new deal.... pretty spectacular. I am taking a CAD (computer Aided Design) class and a 3d fibers class. CAD has been going surprisingly well so far, the basic computer class I took a few quarters ago worked wonders!! Right now we're working on our first pattern, the only guideline is that the motifs be based on architecture in Savannah. The term Architecture is to be applied loosely. I've been thinking about it as an exploration of structure, how things are made, how they collect and cover and tangle together-- both in the physical world and in our minds, as concepts and ideas which exist at the same time.

3d fibers includes much of the same thoughts. The pictures above are things that I've made for that class so far.

The first is the cover to a process book that I made last Thursday night for the class. I find that by making everything by myself, I feel more comfortable and able to work honestly and without holding anything back. I am at this place where I don't want to deny or hide anything anymore and it is sometimes really hard to be that open and create that honestly about new ways that I feel and aspects of the everyday that I'm just now starting to figure out.

The second picture is the top of a magic wand that I made as a sample of tangling. Brooke and I went out to the Bonneventure Cemetery last Sunday, it is the largest and oldest cemetery in Savannah and certainly the largest that I've seen. A section of the Wilmington River runs past it. We spent a long time climbing around the rocks on the bank and collecting things. I found this wad of fishing line, that was so tangles up around a rock that I had to cut it off. When we got home I stuck a stalky weed and it's root thru the tangle and tied on this bottle cap that Adam folded in half with his hands one night when we were sitting on my front porch. This is a piece about what happens out of nature, when there is no intervention or particular effort exerted to cause one effect or another. String gets all tangled up (so do people.) I'm feeling really thankful that I have time to think these days, it's an awful big help.